Export a HEVC H265 fails, special format 12032 px x 96 px at 60 fps, 20 secs

[Georg312657969jw0]

Hi everyone,

I'm facing an issue with exporting a sequence from After Effects. The requirement is to export it as an mp4 file without audio, using the H.265/HEVC codec. Additionally, the target size is 12032px x 96px, with a frame rate of 60 fps and a duration of 20 seconds, as it's intended for display on an LED strip. The predicted file size is around 20 MB, which is good.

After Effects itself doesn't support exporting an H.265 file, so I have to send it to Media Encoder.

However, every time I try to export the sequence, I encounter an error message:

Error during export Error compiling the film.

Here are the export details:

• Error during export
• Error compiling the film.

• Error during export

• Encoder could not be created.

• Writing with exporter: HEVC (H.265)
• Write to file: ....Final.mp4
• File type is written: HEVC
• To timecode: 00:00:00:00
• Component: HEVC (H.265) of type Exporter
• Selector: 9
• Error code: 3

Could the error be related to the size? Exporting at 12032px x 200px works fine, so I'm wondering if there's a minimum height requirement for HEVC encoding. 

I'm exporting using these specifications.

(Apologies for this being in German, but hopefully still understandable - I've blacked out some details, like the preview.)  

The system specifications:
OS: Windows 11 23H2
Build: 22631.3296

After Effects: V24.2.1 (Build 2)

Media Encoder: V24.2.1 (Build 2)

Any insights or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Mylenium · Accepted solution]

Try CBR encoding first. Otherwise it should work, but who knows. It could be some bug. I'd throw a short segment at Handbrake or any other ffmpeg-based encoder. If it's really down to the resolution or aspect ratio, they'd throw a quantizer error. This would at least halp to figure things out.

Mylenium

[Georg312657969jw0]

Hi Mylenium,

Thank you very much for your quick response. Unfortunately, trying CBR Encoding yields the same error, so that doesn't help. However, when I followed your suggestion and used Handbrake, it worked. Therefore, I believe the issue lies within After Effects/Encoder.

Due to time constraints on this project, would it be best to export it as an uncompressed .mov file (Video Codec: none (uncompressed RGB, 8-Bit)) and then convert it to .265/HEVC using Handbrake? Or do you have another suggestion for achieving the desired result?

[Mylenium]

You can use ProRes and DNx to save some space, but yeah, sure, just fire it out if you're in a pinch.

Mylenium